Ripped
by KKtheRipper
Summary: Mineral Town is quiet as usual until there has been a brutal murder of a woman. An investigator named Kai Macnaghten starts to uncover clues as to who may have killed her and soon discovers that there are more murders at hand. Can he find the person responsible for these killings and bring him to justice in time before more are found dead? KaixClaire lemon in later chapters.
1. Somewhere to start

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harvest Moon or the characters. This is a very graphic story including blood, gore, and a lemon or two. You have been warned. Please enjoy! :-D

It was a warm summer afternoon in the beginning of July. All of the townspeople gathered at Rose Square for a nice community barbeque to celebrate Independence Day. The weather was perfect, not too hot nor humid, and everyone enjoyed each other's company with smiles and merriment. The mayor was holding the event and had invited the whole town in which everyone came.

There were the bachelors, bachelorettes, married couples, and children that resided in this town. It was a laid back party and some went to the beach to soak up the sun while others stayed at the square to eat, drink, and converse.

I was new to this town and had come to live here for the summer. I had already turned 27 and thought to take a little vacation for my birthday. I contemplated in my head whether I would return to London or not, but it all depends if I could find work here to keep myself busy.

Women from this town adored me ever since I came to this place about a month ago. I was used to this type of attention, but I am more interested in my career as a private investigator.

My days were spent investigating murders and crimes which astonished me the most. There was no time for women as I was always busy with murder cases. While on vacation here, I might as well relax and keep my mind off of my work for a little while to focus on myself for once.

After a while of drinking and relaxing at the beach, I sat down on a bench by the sand bar and stared at my glass of rum and coke. Just then a cute bubbly girl came up to me trying to start a conversation. "Hey there! What's up?" I looked up from my glass to see a gorgeous girl with long curly pink hair and ruby eyes looking down to me. I hesitated for a second. "..Hey"

"What are you doing sitting on this bench alone? Come join the party!" She said in excitement. I couldn't help but smile and said okay as her hand grabbed my arm firmly and pulled me up and led me to the square. Once we arrived, she turned to me with a big smile on her face. "My name is Popuri Eddowes, nice to meet you."

"I'm Kai Macnaghten." I said revealing a small smile.

"So, Kai, what do you do for a living? What are your hobbies?" I was surprised to hear the enthusiasm in her voice, as I was feeling a little nervous because I never really talk to women that much. "..I'm a private investigator for the Metropolitan Police Service in London."

With that said, Popuri's eyes widened in interest. "You're an investigator from London?! That's so hot!" She yelled out causing others around to stare at us. I couldn't help but blush slightly and tried to tell her calmly to keep that down before a man noticed us walked right in our path.

"So, you're a private investigator from London? It's about time that I've met another one like me. The name's Gray Constable." The tall man held his hand out to shake mine. I smiled and greeted back shaking his hand firmly. The man was about 6'3 with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hello Gray, it's nice to meet you. I should have introduced myself to the other men around town to get better acquainted." I had now revealed my British accent that I've been trying to hide causing them both to look at me in awe. 'Great.. .' I thought.

Popuri's eyes widened even more. "Ahh! He's British too!" Popuri said in a loud tone all excited to see this gorgeous exotic looking man with a Europe accent before her. Gray just looked at her and sighed while rolling his eyes.

"Yes, well I have lived in London all my life, so technically you can say I'm British. But, I am also of Dominican descent." I stated with confidence in my words and Gray smiled pleased. "Well welcome to our little town Kai. I take it that you'll be an inspiration to our community."

A while had passed and the party started to die down after the fireworks went off. Some headed home, and some to the Inn to continue drinking. I headed off for a night stroll through the town to familiarize myself with it more because I was going to stay here for a while. I walked past a couple of farms and then decided that it was getting late and headed back to the Inn where I was staying.

I opened the door and entered a large room full of wild people. There was dancing, karaoke, and drinking. I myself used to be a party boy back in the day, but now my work has succumbed me to be calm and more mature which was a good thing for my reputation.

It was only about after midnight that I realized I wasn't tired yet and found myself a nice lonely seat by the bar. A tall man with reddish hair greeted me. "So, what are you having?" I thought about it for a minute and then ordered a Heineken. "Here you go, enjoy." Said the man. "Thanks." I said in response.

I watched the small TV that was hung above the bar and stared at it a while. Some silent horse race was going on. I wasn't much into sports which some guys would find strange.

After a couple of drinks I was about to head upstairs to sleep when the door barged open and a young woman with dirty blonde hair and green eyes started screaming.

"HELP! Someone's been killed!" Everyone in the bar was in panic and she ran to the nearest police who was Gray and this other officer that was with him. They went running after her and I quickly followed.

She led us down the street towards the cow farm and there lied a woman with long red hair that was covered in blood. "Stand back!" Yelled Gray as he approached the woman. He had to hold his mouth from disgust as he called the other officer and me over. "Harris, Kai, come look at this."

I came closer to the woman and noticed that she had two large lacerations across her neck, followed by her stomach cut open and some organs removed. I opened my eyes in horror and immediately ordered some of the townspeople that followed to go to their homes.

"This is terrible. Who would do this?!" Gray said while grimacing at the woman before him. "This kind of thing never happens in this town…" Harris spoke in disbelief. "This was Doug's daughter from the Inn..." Gray immediately called the Pathologist of the town.

"Hello is this Doctor Trent Phillips? Yes, we need you down here right away there has been a murder." I could hear the other man on the phone agree, and then Gray hung up. "He should be here soon, let's gather as much evidence as possible and let's figure out what the hell is going on." Gray spoke still shocked about what had happened.

I started looking around the mutilated woman to find any clues without contaminating the crime scene. From all of the murders I have witnessed, this was by far the worst. The look of terror still held in her lifeless eyes as I moved to the right of her to examine the other side of her body. I noticed something strange peaking from under her head as I asked Officer Harris to hand me some gloves.

I placed my gloves on and slowly pulled out a blood stained piece of cloth from under her. I looked at it more closely and it was a piece of cloth from a shirt of some sort, but it was not hers. It had some writing on it that I couldn't make out. Later, I would have to look it over with better equipment to find out what it says. In the meantime I placed the cloth in a bag and went back to where Gray and Harris were standing.

"What did you find?" Gray said looking at me with hope in his eyes.

"I found this piece of cloth by her head. I'm going to examine it later when I get my equipment because it seems to have some writing on it that is not clear." I said watching Gray nod his head in agreement.

There was a large crowd of people already standing a few hundred feet from the crime scene and I could see that there was a man rushing forward through the crowd to where we were.

"Where is she? Where's Ann?! I want to see her!" He screamed in horror and noticed his deceased daughter on the floor in front of him. Gray had to hold him back because he was more built and stronger than Harris and I. Doug started crying hysterically trying to beat past Gray to go to his daughter, but he eventually gave up and collapsed on the ground.

This was terrible. This was a crime that should not have occurred, especially in this small town. But, I knew something was wrong and that this wasn't over. The killer was still on the loose and by the looks of this mysterious cloth, I had a feeling that everyone was in for a rude awakening.


	2. Something that needs to be done

**Authors note**: Once again I do not own Harvest Moon. Okay so here's the next chapter. I added a little bit of gore as a pre-warning. Enjoy! Oh and please review, thanks!

"Can you hand me the specimen you gathered yesterday?" Dr. Trent Phillips asked looking at me from across the room, standing at the lab room doorway with his arms crossed.

"Oh yes, no problem. I was just looking it over." I said as I got up from my seat and went over to hand the sample to the doctor. He took it from my hand and brought it into his lab room. Doctor Trent was a Forensic Pathologist and I was pretty sure he can do a hell of a better job decoding it than I could.

I didn't want to disturb him as I went back to my desk. Gray was nice enough to give me my own desk at his office. It was small, but I didn't mind it much.

A couple of hours passed and I was getting a little antsy at my desk. I started to shake my left leg violently as if I had restless leg syndrome. While my leg was going, I was chewing the inside of my mouth causing myself to bleed. I was getting impatient with the doctor that was looking at the specimen and had wondered if he figured anything out yet.

I stood up from my seat and walked towards the lab room and took a peek through the window and saw the doctor sitting at his seat looking at the cloth with a microscope. He seemed so into what he was doing and I would have felt strange if I disturbed him while in his trance.

I started to head out the door as the doctor called out for me. "Wait a sec! I figured it out!" I turned back quickly and almost ran to the doctor. What I have been waiting for was finally revealed.

"The first word is cut off, but the second word says "Clinic".

I paused for a moment in thought and then realized that this cloth was part of a scrub uniform from someone working at the clinic. I couldn't help but to think that the murderer got his/her tools from the clinic that then led to Ann Nichols death.

Could the murderer be working at the town clinic?

The town was quiet, but it felt a little more silent than usual. The wind was blowing strong and I could see from the clouds that a storm was brewing. I started to head to the Inn passing by the church as I noticed a newly planted grave. I walked up to and saw that it was Ann's and I knelt down in front of it.

I stared at the grave for a moment. I then took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. "Don't worry Ann…I will bring your murderer to justice and then you can finally rest in peace…" I said quietly as I rose once again to my feet and headed to the inn.

By the time I got to the door of the Inn, thunder and lightning struck along with a downpour of rain that caused me to react suddenly and open the door fast and quickly shutting it behind me.

I got a weird stare from some people, but I just smiled nervously and began to walk up the stairs. I didn't see Doug there today which was only natural because of the recent death of his daughter.

I got to my room and began changing into more comfortable clothes. I have been feeling stressed about this situation with the recently decoded specimen and wanting to find out the reason why the murderer would leave it in that certain spot where Ann had been killed.

Was it a clue to who the murderer was? Was it a hint of some sort? My mind was racing and I felt like I needed a drink.

I headed down the stairs and went straight to the bar. I sat there at the same lonely seat from last night and waited for the tender to appear.

After about a minute a different man came out of the kitchen to greet me. He was skinny, had long brown hair with blonde tip ends, and brown eyes. He approached me with a smile.

"Hi, what would you like to have?" He said as I ordered my usual.

"Heineken please."

"Coming right up!" He said as he went to the fridge and brought over the bottle. "Here you go, enjoy!"

"Thanks…" I said noticing he used the same words that Doug did and I got a sudden weird feeling in my stomach.

The bar tender looked over at me and noticed that I was alone. "So, what's your name? Where did you come from?" He asked kindly with a smile.

"I'm Kai, and I'm from London. And yourself?"

"Cliff." He said while drying some glasses. "You're here for vacation?"

"Yes. Well…I was." I said looking down to my bottle of beer with an indifferent face.

"Oh? And what happened?" Cliff said with a little frown forming on his face.

"A murder happened." With that said Cliff stopped drying his glasses and froze. "Oh yea…Doug's daughter right? I'm guessing you're a part of the whole crime scene investigation?"

I responded, "Yea…" But, what I really wanted to say was, 'Yea…I thought I could get away from my work for just a little while and then this shit happened. Now I have to deal with this bullshit because I swore to myself to bring justice upon criminals and I will stop at nothing!'

I thought about saying those words, but instead I just sighed and took a big swig of my beer in frustration.

Just then the door opened from the Inn, and a woman walked in drenched from the rain. I watched her walk to the bar to sit down and noticed that she was stressed and worn out. She had long blonde hair, with blue eyes and a shapely body. She was wearing brown shorts, a white tee shirt, brown boots and had some dirt on her skin and clothes.

I didn't realize how long I was staring until she made eye contact with me. Her eyes pierced right through me and I felt the tension in her stare. I quickly turned away to look at my beer and blushed a little in the process.

"Hey Cliff, Black Label on the rocks please." She said with a sigh.

"Here you go Claire. Enjoy!" Cliff said with a smile as he headed back to the kitchen.

'Claire? That's a nice name. I wonder why such a beautiful girl would order a hard drink like that. Must have been a rough day for her…' I thought.

"Hey."

I heard her say to me as I turned to my side to look at her. "Hello."

"The name's Claire, what's yours?"

"Kai." I said sounding nervous. Her blue eyes just kept staring into my brown ones and I felt my body freeze up.

"So…what brings you around newcomer?" She said now relaxing a bit.

"I-I, uh…well I came here for vacation." I started stuttering which I never do and started to grow more nervous as she kept talking to me.

"Oh I see. From where?"

"London"

"Wow so you made a far trip. Do you like it here so far?" She said with a smile now interested in knowing more about me.

"Yes, for the most part." I said noticing my tone becoming more relaxed.

"Well good. This town can get boring at times. How long have you been here?"

"A little over a month.."

"Cool, cool. So, what do you do for a living?"

I thought to myself, 'Why does everyone ask me that?! Do I seem that interesting to women?' A took a breath trying to focus.

"Well, I am a private investigator."

Her eyes widened. "Wow, that's something right there! You must make a fortune."

"Heh, well at times. It's a slow job, but recently I had work handed to me from the murder which you probably are aware of?"

"Oh, yes. That was terrible. Thank goodness I was safe in my farm house. I wouldn't want to die in my 20's you know? Hahaha!"

She laughed and I was confused on how someone could be so happy during a tragic time like this. But, in a way, I found it sexy.

"Haha, yea. Well you and me both. Let's be happy for our lives that we have now." I looked at her and smiled. She smiled back softly and turned her whole body towards me from the bar stool.

"Well let's drink to that!"

Claire held up her glass of Whiskey and Kai mimicked her as they both struck their glasses together and cheered.

**Elli's POV**

"Goodnight Elli! Get home safe!" Doctor Trent called out to me as I finished gathering my belongings to head home.

"Good night Doctor, I will see you tomorrow!" I said as I heading out of the clinic.

It seemed that the storm from before has got worse through time. The wind started to pick up harder than before. I felt like I needed to balance from the gusts that were trying to knock me off my feet. I regained my balance and started to walk again.

I tried to keep my mind off of the storm and all I could think about was Trent. We have been dating a couple of times and I felt that we grew much closer together. 'I wonder if he would ask me to be his girlfriend anytime soon.' I thought to myself dreaming of the possibilities.

I smiled to myself as I came close to my house. It was late and I stayed overtime just to please the Doctor. I came up to my front door and started scrambling through my bag for my keys.

"Oh no…where did I…? Oh…" I just realized that I left it at the clinic and decided to make my way towards the back door. It was eerie the feeling that I had walking to my backyard because it was dark out and not many lights were present. I knew that my grandma was sleeping so I didn't want to disturb her.

While standing on the back porch, I turned to look around me because at that moment I got a weird sense that something wasn't right. I quickly lifted the door mat to take the spare key from under it and started fiddling it with the door knob to try to get it to open faster.

"Hello."

My eyes widened and the voice made me shudder as I gasped not knowing who was behind me at that moment. I turned around fast and was relieved.

"Oh, it's you! You scared me half to death!"

"I did? Well I am sorry."

"It's okay. What are you doing here this late?" I said not understanding the sudden surprise.

"Oh…well I came here to give you something."

My eye brow lifted a bit in question.

The person then reached out for something in their pocket and pulled out some sort of object which the light reflected in the moonlight as to what Elli could see was a large knife.

"Wh-what are you doing with that?" Elli said backing up slowly starting to panic.

"Something that needs to be done…"

Before she could scream, her throat was slashed by a quick movement of the knife and her blood splattered all over the floor. She grabbed her neck and tried to scream, but only gurgled as the blood was rushing out fast down her throat and out towards her chest.

She fell to the floor on her knees trying to beg for mercy as the killer took one more final swing to her throat. Her mouth was full of blood as it started to seep out in gushes.

She took one last glance at the killer before her as she choked on her own blood and fell hard onto the floor.


End file.
